Re: Tifozat e Michael Ballack
23.05.2004:
Ballack in an interview with “Welt am Sonntag“
Under the headline, “Left out in the cold”, the German newspaper “Welt am Sonntag” today published an interview with Michael Ballack. Here is the translation of the conversation.
WamS: Herr Ballack, FC Bayern Munich didn’t win any trophies this season. Why not?
Michael Ballack: We had to do without Mehmet Scholl and Sebastian Deisler, our creative department in midfield, for the entire season. This hasn’t been considered sufficiently so far. Additionally, we have made too many individual errors. But to slag off everything now isn’t right, either. After all, we finished second and have qualified directly for the Champions League.
WamS: Some try to make you the scapegoat for this season.
Ballack: The magazine “Sport Bild” has been biased against me for the whole season. For mouths now they are waging a smear campaign against me.
WamS: Your coach Ottmar Hitzfeld criticised that the public has lost the respect for players, and that the players have been criticised unfairly. Felix Magath also complained that there’s a lack of respect for people and their work. This is a different abroad. And so Hitzfeld even fears that many stars, like yourself, will be driven out of the country. Could this happen?
Ballack: Ottmar Hitzfeld and Felix Magath are absolutely right. It just can’t be that you are attacked by one specific group for weeks and months in an unfair and insulting way, and the club remains silent.
WamS: But what did you expect?
Ballack: I would have expected, and should have expected, that the management oppose the verbal attacks massively.
WamS: So, you didn’t get this backing?
Ballack: No. Again: I don’t have any problems dealing with the media. The problem in this case is that there has been a permanent negative and unfair coverage about me from one specific place. In a situation like this a player needs the full backing of the club. Unfortunately this wasn’t the case here. On the contrary. What’s striking is that shortly before crucial and vital matches of FC Bayern, for example against Celtic or Real Madrid, the management criticised me in public. FC Bayern Munich aren’t a provincial club, aren’t they? And Karl-Heinz Rummenigge [CEO] and Uli Hoeness [general manager] have the weight in Germany to intervene here.
WamS: Are you disappointed?
Ballack: Of course I am. I was left out in the cold.
WamS: You have a contract with FC Bayern until 30 June 2006, and you don’t have an exit clause. Are you going to fulfil your contract?
Ballack: I’ve signed a contract with FC Bayern in the summer of 2002 with the aim to play in Germany until the 2006 World Cup. Like any other player I need a surrounding that supports me one hundred per cent. Only then I’m able to produce top performances. If I get the impression that I’m no longer fully backed by the club management, then we have get together and find a joint solution.
WamS: Would a transfer be such a solution?
Ballack: This is currently not an option.
WamS: On Tuesday, at Elztal in the Black Forest, the national team starts their preparations for the European Championships in Portugal, two days later Germany play Malta in Freiburg. Where does the national team stand after the disastrous 5-1 defeat to Romania?
Ballack: The match in Bucharest was a shock, a major setback. It cost us, after the good start into the year against Croatia and Belgium, a lot of reputation.
WamS: You missed the match due to an injury. What have you learned from that match?
Ballack: If everything goes well in our team we can do great things. We have proven this at the 2002 World Cup. At the same time it showed that we aren’t consistent in our performances yet. Maybe we lack the quality other teams have, like France or Italy. Still I’m very much convinced that we will reach the quarter finals, otherwise we needn’t to travel to Portugal at all.
WamS: After Carsten Ramelow has retired from the national team, your Bayern Munich team-mate, 19-year-old Bastian Schweinsteiger, is regarded as a possible replacement. Does it make sense to take him to Portugal?
Ballack: Schweini is a player who has potential, particularly since he’s already made experiences on the international stage. Rudi Völler can’t go wrong if he selects him.
Torsten Rumpf talked with Michael Ballack
22.05.2004:
FC Bayern secure Champions League berth
Bayern Munich have won the last match under coach Ottmar Hitzfeld. The German record champions defeated SC Freiburg 2-0 (1-0) at the Olympic Stadium and secured at least second spot, and so a place in next season’s Champions League.
On the last working day of Ottmar Hitzfeld, who had won eight trophies in six years at Bayern, Sebastian Deisler after 18 and Bixente Lizarazu after 73 minutes from the spot put their names on the scoresheet. Both goals were set up by Michael Ballack.
In the centre of attention, though, was Ottmar Hitzfeld’s farewell. In front of 63.000 at the sold-out Olympic Stadium CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and general manager Uli Hoeness praised Germany’s most successful coach before the match. Hitzfeld received a bouquet of flowers from the Bayern management, and standing ovations from the Bayern supporters.
With Sebastian Deisler as their driving force, Hitzfeld’s side started positively and always looked sharp when the ball was quickly passed forward. Bayern could have scored more than two, but shots from Michael Ballack and Deisler as well as a Claudio Pizarro header went wide.
21.05.2004:
Only 14 days to go: Relaunch of
www.michael-ballack.de
Dear visitors and fans of michael-ballack.de,
Approximately three years ago
www.michael-ballack.de was launched, and a lot has happened since then: Michael Ballack moved from the Rhine river in Leverkusen to the Isar river in Munich, clinched the 2002 and 2003 “Player of the Year” awards in Germany and was part of Germany’s national squad that finished runners-up at the 2002 World Cup in Japan and Korea.
All have been milestones in Michael’s career – and on his webpage we have of course informed you about all of his other accomplishments as well. It’s almost needless to say, but you have made
www.michael-ballack.de to Germany’s most successful Internet platform of a footballer. More than 1.500.000 page impressions speak for itself. In the name of Michael the webteam would like to thank you for this.
And to ensure that you will enjoy
www.michael-ballack.de in the future as well, we are trying to improve Michael’s Internet site for a couple of weeks now. And on 4 June there will be a total relaunch of the site. You can look forward to a completely new website with many new features. Right from the start you’ll find for example an online shop, where you can purchase officially-licensed Michael Ballack products like T-shirts, jackets, caps or key-rings.
The 4th of June will also mark the official presentation of the new Michael Ballack logo.
So, let yourself be surprised and look forward to Michael’s new website.
Your webteam
18.05.2004:
Ballack scores twice in Hungary
FC Bayern have been given a confidence boost before next Saturday’s last Bundesliga match of the season against SC Freiburg. This evening the Munich outfit won a friendly at Hungarian first division side FC ETO Györ 4-1 (2-0). Michael Ballack (2), Roy Makaay and Roque Santa Cruz scored for the German record champions in front of 22.000 spectators.
Ballack, who captained Bayern due to Oliver Kahn’s absence, opened the scoring after only five minutes, heading in from a Sebastian Deisler corner. He added a second on 54 minutes with a fine long-range effort. After 62 minutes Igor Nicsenko pulled one back for the brave Hungarian side.
17.05.2004:
Ballack with FC Bayern in Hungary
Michael Ballack is part of FC Bayern’s squad that will play at the Hungarian side FC ETO Györ on Tuesday. Coach Ottmar Hitzfeld only has to do without the injured Oliver Kahn, Hasan Salihamidzic und Martin Demichelis. The proceeds from the match will go to Györ’s football youth, the children’s section of the “Aladár Petz” hospital and a home for autistic people, which will be build in Mindszentpuszta.